Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To throw with violence: flung the dish against the wall. See Synonyms at throw.
- v. To put or send suddenly or unexpectedly: troops that were flung into battle.
- v. To throw (oneself) into an activity with abandon and energy.
- v. To cast aside; discard: fling propriety away.
- v. To move quickly, violently, or impulsively.
- n. The act of flinging.
- n. A brief period of indulging one's impulses. See Synonyms at binge.
- n. Informal A usually brief attempt or effort: You take a fling at it.
- n. A brief sexual or romantic relationship.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To throw, cast, or hurl; especially, to throw with force, violence, or swiftness, with ardor, vehemence, disdain, impatience, or indifference: as, the waves flung the ship upon the rocks; his antagonist flung him to the ground; to fling a sarcasm at an opponent; they flung themselves suddenly upon the enemy; to fling a penny to a beggar.
- To throw aside or off, as a burden.
- To get rid of.
- To act by throwing in some particular way; discharge a missile, or something analogous to a missile.
- To aim a blow, as with a weapon; let fly.
- To hasten; fly; rush.
- To start away with a sudden motion, as in token of displeasure; rush away in anger.
- To fly into violent and irregular motions; flounce; throw out the legs violently, as a horse; kick.
- To utter harsh or abusive language; upbraid; sneer: as, she began to flout and fling.
- n. A throw; a cast from the hand.
- n. Entire freedom of action; wild dash into pleasure, adventure, or excitement of any kind; enjoyment of pleasure to the full extent of one's opportunities.
- n. A lively Scotch country-dance; a reel or hornpipe, especially of the kind called the Highland fling, usually danced by one person.
- n. A gibe; a sneer; a sarcasm; a severe or contemptuous remark.
- n. A slight, trifling matter: in the following proverb:
- n. A sudden or rapid throwing; a whipping action; a sidewise motion with respect to the principal direction of motion: as, the fling of a connecting-rod.
Wiktionary
- n. Short, often sexual relationship.
- n. An act of unrestrained indulgence.
- n. An act of throwing, often violently.
- n. An act of moving the limbs or body with violent movements, especially in a dance.
- n. figuratively An attempt, a try (as in "give it a fling").
- v. To throw with violence or quick movement; to hurl.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To cast, send, to throw from the hand; to hurl; to dart; to emit with violence as if thrown from the hand.
- v. To shed forth; to emit; to scatter.
- v. To throw; to hurl; to throw off or down; to prostrate; hence, to baffle; to defeat.
- v. To throw; to wince; to flounce.
- v. To cast in the teeth; to utter abusive language; to sneer.
- v. To throw one's self in a violent or hasty manner; to rush or spring with violence or haste.
- n. A cast from the hand; a throw; also, a flounce; a kick.
- n. A severe or contemptuous remark; an expression of sarcastic scorn; a gibe; a sarcasm.
- n. A kind of dance.
- n. obsolete A trifing matter; an object of contempt.
- n. a short period during which one indulges one's wishes, whims, or desires in an unrestrained manner.
- n. a love affair.
- n. informal a casual or brief attempt to accomplish something.
- n. a period during which one tries a new activity.
WordNet 3.0
- v. indulge oneself
- v. move in an abrupt or headlong manner
- v. throw with force or recklessness
- v. throw or cast away
- n. the act of flinging
- n. a usually brief attempt
- n. a brief indulgence of your impulses
Etymologies
- From Old Norse flengja (Wiktionary)
- Middle English flingen, of Scandinavian origin; see plāk-2 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“*dig scratch fling fling fling* Ware iz it ware iz it!”
The prize is in here somewhere! - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“Would a short-term fling really be enough for you, Isabella?”
“The Peter-Dale affair is spicy enough, but Melanie's on-again, off-again fling with a younger reporter is rather coyly handled, and the glamorous president seems doomed to celibacy.”
The Washington Post: Review of "Eighteen Acres," a political thriller by Nicolle Wallace
“At the moment their highschool fling is nt enough to keep them together in my book.”
“If you hear this excuse, run -- unless you're just looking for a short-term fling.”
“In fact, 'butt fling' is exactly what * I* call it.”
“That she knew it was meaningless, but she was willing to accept a short-term fling with David because he was just so much fun?”
“There's the short-term fling type, the Marlboro man type, the socially aggressive guy.”
“His off-balance fling from the right corner hit the rim but bounced off as time expired.”
“Season series: Miami 3-1, the clincher coming April 9 on a last-second fling from the 3-point line by Hardaway that won in overtime.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘fling’.
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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MANY A WORD!
This is just a list, right, that I'm gonna, like, fill with words, that, like, are every word that I can, like, think of with, ahhmm, my brain.
and, able, art, ass, algebra, amp, ankle, booze, bong, aura, bling, bright and 134 more...
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Your Mother
Joyess
cramp, crumble, cringe, slope, fling, prone, freckle, plank, frock, tramp, slump, crotch rot and 36 more...
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ash vocab
flippant, fillip, expiate, explicate, extirpate, facile, florid, fealty, allegiance, fetid, febrile, pert and 134 more...
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(more or less) Temporary Urth List
Temporary list is temporary.
Collecting a few words here, which are then to be alloted to other lists.vassal, gnaw, putrescence, liege, pederasty, disseminate, loot, waning, fitful, hiatuse, plow, pious and 292 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, F
felony, frolic, fend, fuselage, farthingale, freewheeling, frigorific, flummery, fancypants, felsitic, flagstone, flageolet and 295 more...
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English
rewarding, wit, landmark, core, soar, drop, plunge, plummet, dive, level off, rocket, peak and 110 more...
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Activated Phonemes
This list was generated by first taking a letter from the alphabet, or any of the initial cluster set of phonesthemes compiled by the ingenious Benjamin Shisler) and then sticking one of the suffix...
bing, ding, ging, jing, ling, ming, king, ping, ring, sing, ting, wing and 189 more...
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♡LOVE and things like it♡
dedicated to my man Steven, without whom i would be addicted to drugs, lying in a gutter, hating myself, or hooking somewhere :)
affectionate, amative, amatory, amiable, ammophilous, amorous, ardent, attached to, attracted to, beloved, bewitching, bitten and 404 more...
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junestag's Words
postmodernism, cat, fish, rabbit, dell, coffee, elearning, mazda, php, mysql, flash, blogger and 755 more...
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oddball
wackadoodlery.
( personal list )
related (from me):
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/onomatopoeias--1
bric-a-brac, succotash, humbucker, skedaddle, scallywag, sassafras, gadzooks, humdinger, hoity-toity, wishy-washy, namby-pamby, ding dong and 456 more...
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Thrown - about tossed - Words
bal-; bol-; -bol; -ble and incau(gh)tious others
ballistic, ballad, symbol, bolide, ballet, problem, ball, parabola, parable, amphibole, boule, diabolical and 184 more...
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the hotlist
short, sweet, epic, catchy, sassy, sexy & sizzling.
( personal list, randomness )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/...zing, epic, win, fail, hot, warp, times, clip, onyx, wonky, pwn, leet and 1500 more...
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Rogue's Words for bonnie lads n lassies
tinchel, glen, sassenach, guddle, brae, bonnie, eejit, deerhound, hoonds, lassie, laddie, heiland and 188 more...
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jgs's Words
liminal, luminescence, trajectory, simulacrum, thundersnow, trappings, rigour, temporality, mammalian, diffuse, tearing, flail and 83 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for fling.

skipvia A group of dunlins Nov 15, 2007